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What is storm chasing? Who chases storms?
 Storm chasers are people who enjoy watching and photographing phenomena associated with severe weather. The term 'chasing' implies the careful forecasting and tracking of storms, then driving to them to make observations and take photographs and video.
Every chaser has a favorite phenomenon that interests them the most, whether it be lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, or even cloud formations - but most chasers enjoy observing all aspects of severe weather.
 Some storm chasers are career meteorologists or storm photojournalists, but most do it for fun as a pasttime. Men and women from various occupations from all parts of the world make up the storm chasing community (see the two links listed below). Many chasers take their vacation time to travel to stormy destinations for weeks and even months at a time.
So who are these storm chasers? There are a couple of sites that are devoted to profiles of chasers:
The Unofficial Storm Chaser Database
StormTrack's Who's Who in Storm Chasing
Is storm chasing dangerous? Are you chasers crazy or something?
 There is a widespread misconception that storm chasing is a dangerous 'extreme sport' and participants are at best fearless daredevils and at worst reckless and crazy. The truth is, however, that storm chasing is generally very safe when done responsibly. Most storm chasers are level-headed about the hobby, have no desire to put themselves in harm's way, and get tired of being typecast as high-risk adrenaline junkies. Chasing is what you might call a weather 'safari' - it's about seeing the lions in their habitat, not getting into their dens! As a longtime chaser, I would place storm chasing several degrees safer than whitewater rafting or mountain biking. If you can accept the risks of those type of activities, then you'd be more than ready for going on a storm chasing expedition.
Tornadoes, for instance, are generally very easy to avoid. The vast majority of them move slowly, lumbering along in one general direction. Most are highly visible. Even the largest tornadoes are very small events in comparison to their parent thunderstorms, and consequently it's difficult to get close enough to see them. To see a tornado, a chaser has to pinpoint a small area within tens of thousands of square miles of open country - no easy task. Add to this the fact that most tornadoes don't last more than a few minutes, and you can see why simply seeing a tornado even from a distance is difficult.
 Getting extremely close to a tornado is a nearly impossible feat. It's even less likely to happen accidentally, especially for an experienced chaser. And most important of all, it isn't necessary nor is it desired! Some of the best photography and video of a tornado is shot from one to two miles away. In fact, trying to get very close can cost a chaser some excellent photo opportunities. Once a tornado is on the ground, it may only last a minute or two, and be gone before a chaser can drive up to it. If a tornado is moving slowly and lasts long enough, a chaser might try getting closer. It can be done, the safest way being to follow behind it, though debris will often block roads.
There has only been one documented death of a storm chaser since the hobby's inception that, interestingly enough, wasn't related to storms at all. It involved a single-vehicle automobile accident caused by an animal that had wandered into the roadway. I'll delve more into the topic of highway safety below.
Ironically enough, the people in greatest danger of tornadoes and severe storms are not storm chasers, but people who do not pay attention to the weather - the person working in their shop, cooking in the kitchen, sleeping on the couch - without any radio, television or their own set of eyes to alert them of an approaching tornado. And indeed these are where many, if not the bulk, of tornado fatalities occur. In fact- if you live in Tornado Alley, the safest place to be during a severe weather outbreak is with storm chasers! By our very nature, chasers are more aware of the weather situation than anyone else, with savvy, experience and an intense focus on the storms and what they are doing. We know where to be and where not to be - a much safer situation than you would first assume.
What are the risks involved in chasing storms?
While storm chasing is not the dangerous activity it is often portrayed to be, there are some risks that a chaser must be aware of and prepare for:
 - Driving - You will hear me repeat this again and again on this site - the most dangerous part of storm chasing is not the storms - it's being the road! It may surprise you to hear that in my 15 years of storm chasing, the closest calls I've had were never storm-related, but always driving-related. I can't think of one time that a tornado, flood, hurricane or lightning strike made me genuinely fear for my safety - but like all of us, I have plenty of stories about near-misses on the road. The risks from driving always far exceed the risks from the skies - not only for storm chasers but for every driver out on the roads. In fact, someone who commutes in their car for more than 10 miles every day has a higher risk of getting hurt than I do during all of the storm chasing expeditions I embark on every year around the USA.
The multitasking, high-distraction environment and adverse road conditions during a storm chase can further add to the basic risks of the road for a chaser. In the vicinity of storms, driving on roads in rain or hail can be tricky, and many rural roads in the Great Plains can become muddy quagmires when wet. Chasers often log hundreds of miles a day and must be well-rested to avoid fatigue. A chaser must be disciplined enough to pay full attention to the road, even when the sky is doing everything it can to divert a driver's eyes upward. Of all the dangers of chasing, driving a car personally makes me more nervous than any weather I've ever experienced - and I devote much more caution to the hazards of the road than I do to a storm. Again, chasing storms doesn't make driving risky, highway dangers are a hazard for anyone on the road, whether they are on vacation, driving to the store, or on a business trip. But as far as the risks of chasing are concerned, the chances of a vehicle accident is much greater than that of being hit by a tornado or lightning strike, or any other storm-related danger. Therefore a chaser's number-one safety priority must be focused on his or her vehicle and the road ahead.
- Lightning - Chasers spend a lot of time in the vicinity of thunderstorms. Over the years, several chasers have had close calls with lightning strikes. This risk can be minimized by staying in your vehicle as much as possible, especially during periods of high lightning activity.
- Large Hail - Encounters with moderate-sized hail are common when chasing storms, and most chasers can expect to pick up at least a few hail dents on their vehicles each season. Most chasers don't mind these occasional minor 'battle scars', but those with expensive vehicles might be concerned.
In rare events, a chaser could find themselves in hail larger than baseballs, which can do serious cosmetic damage to a vehicle as well as break the windshield and/or the windows. Any broken window may result in glass fragments that can cause minor cuts. For the most part, the worst hail can be easily avoided by the experienced chaser and therefore is not a big risk. An even lesser risk is the remote chance of being struck with a large hailstone, which could cause serious injury. Even small hail can be painful to a person standing outside, so chasers should stay in their vehicle when hail is falling.
 - Strong Winds, Debris and Storm Aftermath - High winds often topple trees and power lines, break branches, blow objects into the roadway. Again, this takes us back to the driving risk. These objects can make travel hazardous, particularly after dark. More than once I've come upon fallen power lines across the road, in one instance hitting a wire before I could stop. Debris on the road is not always easily spotted in time to stop your vehicle. In agricultural areas like the Great Plains, livestock can wander onto the road after a storm damages roadside fences. Several chasers have had close calls with cows that walked through a tornado-damaged fence onto the road. Pictured at right are cows walking on Highway 183 near Greensburg, Kansas after a tornado wiped out fences along the roadway.
In some cases, high winds can carry small debris like gravel and tree branches that can break vehicle windows. A chase vehicle in our caravan in 2001 suffered a broken rear window after wind-blown gravel shattered the glass:
- Tornadoes - You might be surprised that I've put tornadoes last on my list of storm chasing risks. That's because they are not only easy to avoid, but it is actually hard to get in the path of a tornado, even on purpose! It's difficult for a chaser to even see a tornado at a distance on most chases, let alone get close enough that driving into it is even a remote possibility. Tornadoes are sort of like freight trains, moving along a track at a fairly constant speed and direction. If they do shift direction, it is usually in a gentle curving motion. All you have to do is stay out of the tornado's track and you'll be fine. Since tornadoes often travel at angles to roadways, the intersection of tornado paths and roads are few and far between, meaning that you have to be at exactly the right place at the right time to have a tornado strike you. Many chasers (including the TIV crew featured on a recent Discovery Channel series) have been making concerted efforts to make close intercepts of tornadoes for years, with very few successes. A chaser getting into a tornado accidentally is such a small risk that it is almost negligible.
What about the movie "Twister"?
 'Twister' is a movie about storm chasers that came out in the summer of 1996. As is with most action movies, 'Twister' is full of inaccurate science, bad stereotypes, and misrepresentations of storm chasing in general. Nonetheless, it was entertaining- and to most chasers, this was 'our' movie. Despite its flaws, 'Twister' vindicated the storm chaser. All of a sudden, chasing tornadoes was 'cool' and the world understood, to some degree, why someone would do what we do.
In fact, Twister had a profound effect on storm chasing. Even before the movie, chasing was already an increasingly popular activity. After the movie came out in 1996, thousands of people started (and many still are) chasing storms as a direct result of the film. The influx of people and interest in chasing from the movie has introduced both positive and negative factors. For example, a single supercell storm in the Plains can often be surrounded by hundreds of chasers, causing traffic and overcrowding.
There are a plethora of web sites by chasers that refute the errors in 'Twister', so I won't go into much detail - but the following Hollywood fabrications are worth a mention:
- MYTH: Chasers see lots of tornadoes every day. REALITY: In Twister, a storm chaser's schedule for the day goes something like this: Wake up, eat breakfast, see tornado, see tornado, eat lunch, see tornado, see tornado, eat dinner, see tornado, go to sleep. The truth is, anyone who chases for the first time expecting a Twister-like experience is bound for disappointment!
In reality, most chasers will be happy if he or she sees one or two tornadoes in an entire season. For every few minutes of time witnessing a tornado, a chaser spends days on the road. In the real storm chasing world, time is divided something like this: 90% driving, 7% waiting, and about 3% of actually seeing storms. Most chasers report that they see a tornado a little less than once every fifteen days they go out to chase, and after driving thousands of miles. I chased the Great Plains (A.K.A. Tornado Alley) for four years before I saw my first tornado.
In rare instances, a few chasers have indeed seen multiple tornadoes in one day, such as during the big tornado outbreak of May 3, 1999 in central Oklahoma. 2004 was also a rare year in which storm systems produced multiple-tornado days for many chasers.
Storm chasers must endure a lot of hard work, discomfort, disappointment and expense in order to see tornadoes, an aspect of the hobby that Twister failed to portray. For us, the experience is worth all of the effort it requires.
- MYTH: Chasers want to get in the path of the tornado, or as close as possible to it. REALITY: Storm chasers want to witness a tornado, not be part of it. Our main objective is to observe and photograph the phenomenon at a safe distance.
- MYTH: Chasers will get to a tornado at all costs by driving on 4wd-only roads and through private fields, etc. REALITY: All storm chasers want to see a tornado, and will spend lots of vacation time, money, and effort attempt to reach that goal. But chasers are not crazed, high-adrenaline lunatics that will put life and property at risk to get to a tornado. Most chasers have missed many tornadoes because it was not safe or considerate to continue on.
On May 24, 2002, I missed the brief tornado in Vernon, Texas because I felt it was unsafe to continue driving at highway speeds on the rain-slickened roads. That turned out to be the only tornado our team saw during my entire chase vacation, and I was very disappointed at losing that opportunity. But seeing the tornado was not worth putting myself or others on the road in danger.
- MYTH: People can survive being inside a tornado. REALITY: The movie dipicted several scenes where the characters found themselves literally in the center of the tornado with little or no shelter, yet came out unscathed. Flying debris (bricks, cinderblocks, boards, cars, pipes, etc. at 100+ MPH) is always present in a tornado, and will kill or seriously maim anyone who ends up in the middle of it - whether they are tied to a water pipe or not.
Are storm chasers clogging roads and causing problems for emergency vehicles?
During the spring of 2004, chasers enjoyed a phenomenal season of many easy and spectacular tornado intercepts. However, the same season also brought some unprecedented negative publicity to chasers in the form of several high-profile newspaper articles. In the articles, storm chasers are unilaterally categorized as careless, gawking 'tornado tourists' that clog roads, insensitively celebrate the destruction of property, and block emergency vehicles from responding to damaged areas. The stories were written in response to several incidents that occured on big severe weather days in Kansas, mainly where heavy traffic created a difficult situation for emergency personnel trying to reach damaged homes.
As a result, the storm chasing community and has suddenly found itself on the defensive against this growing trend of media attention on this subject. While some of the problems that the articles address are legitimate concerns, most storm chasers are unhappy with the fact that these articles unfairly cited us as the source of the issues.
 The storm chasing 'community', while not an official entity, is generally close-knit, self-policed, and held to a high standard. Careless, unsafe, irresponsible and insensitive behavior is strongly condemned by the chasing community. Unfortunately, in any storm situation, there are an isolated few who deviate from these ethics (either due to ignorance of proper chasing ethics or bad judgement) and create bad publicity that is unfairly attributed to all chasers. While there can be a large amount of chasers in the vicinity of a storm on any given day, the vast majority of chasers take extra care, pulling off the road completely as to not block traffic - and definately yielding right-of-way to emergency vehicles.
In addition to irresponsible acts by an isolated few chasers who don't represent our majority, there is the issue of local residents who, instead of taking shelter, head outside with the family and a video camera when a tornado warning is issued. Most chasers, me included, can personally attest to chasers being largely outnumbered by local residents who are out on the roads trying to catch a glimpse of the tornado. Many times, the local residents - inexperienced around storms and unaware of 'chase ethics' - are largely responsible for the complaints that are getting so much media attention, where dedicated, responsible storm chasers are unfairly taking the blame for these problems.
Finally, the most prominent of the articles, written by the Wichita Eagle and distributed nationwide, railed against 'tornado tourists' (storm chasers implied) for blocking roads in the vicinity of the Mulvane, Kansas tornado on June 12, 2004. What the article failed to mention is that while many chasers and local residents were on the road that day, the traffic jam was caused by a police roadblock on the main highway into the town - not by gawking storm chasers. I was in Mulvane that day with a group of chasers who did not cause any problems, nor did we witness any other chasers around us doing so. Despite a large effort by the storm chasing community to respond to and clarify this error, the article instead was broadcast intact to newspapers across the country - creating a new public relations problem facing storm chasers.
Do storm chasers enjoy seeing severe weather cause destruction and harm?
 It is incomprehensible that anyone would wish death and destruction on others. Storm chasers certainly don't fit that description. Inadvertently, a few tornadoes and severe storms will hit houses, towns and businesses and sometimes cause injury or worse. However, the vast majority of tornadoes touch down in open country, missing structures and damaging nothing but trees and cornfields. Chasers are after the tornado itself, not the destruction it causes. Chasers cannot control when, where and what a tornado will strike. We prefer a beautiful tornado over open country, with nothing but tree limbs and dirt in its debris cloud. It's impossible to fully enjoy a tornado that causes injury or loss of property, it is a bittersweet experience that taints an otherwise perfect chase day. While admittedy a tornado destroying a structure is a phenomenal sight to witness (for anyone, not just the storm chaser), it is not one that is sought out nor enjoyed by chasers.
I'm not a racing fan, but I can draw this analogy. NASCAR is a sport enjoyed by millions. Races are attended by more than 100,000 fans and televised nationally. In auto racing, crashes, damaged cars and injury are common. No one is wishing injury or death on a driver, but it is inevitable that it will happen from time to time. Is that reason to stop racing, or for people to stop being racing fans? Should these fans be guilty for being racing fans?
Tornadoes are natural forces that we cannot control. Storm chasers are out to witness and learn about this spectacular phenomenon, and a successful intercept is a great experience. But no chaser wishes death or destruction on anyone, nor do we remotely enjoy it when it happens.
Do storm chasers provide any benefits to communities affected by severe storms?
 Most storm chasers have considerable field experience in identifying storm features and are often very competent in spotting early warning signs that indicate a tornado may develop. Using ham radio or cell phones, chasers often relay this information to local emergency management, police and/or the National Weather Service, helping to get warnings out that can save lives. If a tornado develops, chasers can follow the storm's progress, relaying information about the tornado's strength and direction of travel.
After an event is over, video obtained by chasers is frequently used to train new storm spotters and chasers in identifying storm features that can precede a tornado's development. Local storm spotters along with storm chasers together make up a strong early warning system for communities in the path of severe weather. Warnings issued from information relayed by chasers and spotters have saved lives, and will continue to do so.
What is 'core punching'?
 'Core punching' refers to driving through a storm's heaviest precipitation area to get to a better location, intentionally or unintentionally (NOT driving into a tornado, as portrayed in 'Twister'). For instance, let's say a chaser is on the north side of a storm, and wants to get to the south side to get a better view of the developing tornado. Now there's only one road that leads in that direction, but the heavy precipitation area of the storm happens to be passing over that road - the chaser may elect to go through the precipitation (core punch) to get where he/she wants to go.
The biggest dangers associated with core punching involve your car: 1.) the reduced visibility and hazardous road conditions caused by heavy rain and high winds, and 2.) large, damaging hail (sometimes baseball to softball-sized) that can shatter windows and inflict huge dents.
Every year, many storm chasers experience costly damage to their cars from hail as a result of core punching. As a result, most experienced chasers will avoid a 'core punch' at all costs, even if it means missing a tornado.
The low visibility associated with a 'core punch' may also put a chaser at risk to drive into the path of a tornado that they cannot see.
In May of 2002, our chase team encountered the beginnings of baseball-sized hail from the outskirts of a storm's 'core' in Texas (Video clip, RealVideo). We wasted no time in turning around as soon as we realized what we were facing.
Where do you chase storms?
 There are storm chasers from all parts of the world, from the USA to Australia, from England to Argentina. Chasers like to observe the weather where they live, but will occasionally travel to other parts of the globe where certain phenomena is common (tornadoes in the Central Plains, lightning in Florida, hurricanes on the Atlantic coast, etc.).
How do you become a storm chaser?
Unless you want to become a SKYWARN spotter, there are no procedures, certifications or permits required to get involved in a weather-related hobby. Like any other pasttime, you just start doing it. You don't need any equipment other than a camera and possibly a notebook to record your obervations. A NOAA weather radio is especially helpful. Access to weather data and other information on the Internet can help you learn a great deal about various aspects of the field. Of course, an automobile helps if you want to see events that occur away from home, but you can always see and photograph storms from where you live. Joining a weather-related e-mail list to share questions, photos and observations is a great way to link up with other people in the storm chasing community and further your knowledge.
 There's no hard and fast definition of what storm chasing is and what is not. For example, tornadoes are not the main subject of interest for many chasers. If you just want to go out and observe the weather in your community (or even in your backyard), go for it. If you're already doing that, you fit the general definition of a 'storm chaser' in its simplest sense.
It's important to use common sense, drive safely, avoid taking risks, and be considerate to others (motorists, residents) while on any chase. Curiosity seeking, sensationalism, competition and risk-taking are not what storm chasing is about, and those who practice such things are generally frowned upon by the storm chasing community.
Chasing in Tornado Alley
It's worth mentioning that it takes experience and at least a general understanding of severe weather forecasting and storm identification to successfully and safely chase tornadoes. Just like you would with whitewater rafting or rock climbing, a person new to storm chasing should always first venture out with a group of seasoned chasers to familiarize themselves with the ins and outs of the hobby.
It's not a good idea to go alone on your first chase. You'll have a hard time finding tornadoes if you simply go out on the road with no prior experience. Not only that, but you also put yourself at risk to get into potentially dangerous or damaging situations like large hail or high winds. Experienced chasers recognize these situations in advance and can take evasive measures.
How much does chasing cost?
Storm chasing is an expensive hobby, mainly because it involves a great amount of travel. Many chasers live away from the Great Plains, necessitating a long drive, flight or train ride to get to Tornado Alley.
Once on the Great Plains, chasers can drive over 500 miles on a typical chase day. Chasers can log several thousand miles per week, meaning that vehicle maintenance such as oil changes and tire care must be considered. Chasers spend nights in hotels, paying full price for rooms. Since a chaser doesn't know what city, town or even state that they will end up in from day to day, it is impossible to make advance reservations or get multiple-night discounts.
With gas and lodging, a typical week of storm chasing on the Plains can cost as much as $1500. Frugal chasers often carpool and share hotel rooms to split costs. Professional storm chasing tours cost between $2000 and $3000 for a ten-day trip, which includes all lodging and fuel costs.
What equipment do you need to chase storms?
There are no equipment requirements for chasing storms, other than a car! Gear is really up to the individual chaser to decide. Chasers have varying opinions on what type of gear to take along. Some have fully decked-out vehicles with every conceivable gadget available, while others take nothing more than a cell phone and a camera. Most chasers fall somewhere in between these two, however. You basically should take along everything you would take on a vacation - cameras, first aid kit, clothes, etc. Weather data is helpful to have on the road, which can be obtained as simply as a NOAA weather radio, or as complex as a satellite weather data system hooked up to a laptop computer.
All of the gadgets in the world don't equal experience, however. Some long-time succesful chasers go out with almost no gear, yet are able to consistently catch tornadoes using their years of skill and practice.
Can you make money chasing storms? Are there any storm chasing jobs?
Storm chasing is first and foremost a hobby, and is rarely done professionally. Chasing is very expensive, and those that do make money at it usually only do so to recover some of their costs - very few actually make a profit. There are four very difficult and limited ways that one can earn money by chasing storms:
- Video and Photography Sales:
Some chasers are able to sell video of tornadoes, lightning and hurricanes to news media, production companies and television shows. However, the dollar amount received for video is usually not nearly enough to cover the cost of obtaining the footage. Storm footage is very difficult and expensive to gather, and there is a great amount of competition from media crews and other chasers. A chaser who sells video of a tornado has probably spent a week, or a month, or even years driving around the Plains, paying for gas and lodging out of his or her pocket all the way. He or she must beat out all other competition to get their video to media outlets first, which often means 'breaking off the chase' and leaving a good storm early to feed video. Most media outlets cannot afford nor are willing to pay enough for a chaser to recover all of their costs, let alone make a profit. Add to this fact that on any given storm in the Plains, there will be hordes of chasers filming the same thing you are. The laws of supply and demand also apply to weather video, and those types of situations end up saturating the market for video and further reducing footage prices.
Exceptional or rare footage, such as a house lifting up into the air in a tornado, can bring in a huge profit. But obtaining such a shot is a one-in-a-million occurance, one that will simply not happen to most chasers.
In recent years, the rise of the 'CJ' or 'citizen journalist' (branded as I-reporters, U-reporters, etc by certain networks) has further diluted the market for weather video. Most people outside of the TV business do not realize that weather footage is valuable commodity to a television network and normally commands a good price. But with today's proliferation of video cameras and video-capable cell phones, non-professionals are now more likely to capture weather events than the pro cameraperson. Not being aware of what their footage is worth, amateur photographers are willing to give their video away for free, enticed by the fleeting few seconds of having their name on TV. Most don't realize that this is like walking down to the upscale business park in town and handing your paycheck to one of the CEOs, as all of this free video is nothing more than a windfall for the networks. As this 'CJ' trend has continued, it has made it even harder for a storm chaser to break even with video sales to pay for gas and travel money, much less see any profit.
Barring rare, exceptional photos, there is little or no market for still photographs of storms.
- Local Television Coverage:
Some local television stations pay chasers to help cover severe weather affecting their viewing areas, but this is usually only done in regions where damaging weather is common (like the Great Plains or in hurricane-prone coastal areas). Even so, such chasers are not active unless severe weather is threatening - meaning they must have other income to survive during quiet weather and during the winter months. Chasing for a television station has its drawbacks, one of which is that the chaser is usually not free to go where the best storms are occuring. The TV chaser is usually stuck in the home viewing area if there is any chance that severe weather may affect it, which many times means lost opportunities for better storms and tornadoes farther away.
- Storm Chasing Tours:
Another specialized business in the storm chasing world is that of chase 'tour' operators. These companies buy one or two 15-passenger vans and a good insurance policy, and take willing customers out to Tornado Alley to show them storms and tornadoes. Their clientele ranges from curiosity seekers to first-time chasers looking to learn more. The benefits of a chase tour are that the customer needs not be an expert at weather forecasting nor purchase their own equipment - they pay the tour operator for his expertise, transportation and lodging for a one-time 'adventure' in Tornado Alley.
A chase tour venture has many challenges, and is realistically only an option for a chaser with many years of experience. First, the tour operator must be a seasoned and highly skilled chaser, one who is very competent at forecasting and can consistently find tornadoes, on his own, for his or her customers. A tour operator must be willing to accomodate and pander to the needs of 10 to 20 paying customers while safely carting them around the Plains. Finally, the tour operator must have other income to survive during the 10-month 'off season', and be able to find a day job that will allow for two months off every year.
- Science & Research Projects:
The fourth type of storm chasing 'job' involves being part of a sceintific team or research group, such as those sponsored by colleges, univiersities, government agencies and private corporations. These opportunities are usually very limited in scope and funding, and only a handful of people can expect to be employed by them. Once again, research chasers are only active during severe weather season, meaning they must have other income to make a living the rest of the year. For the very few that do manage to make a career from storm research, the actual chasing takes up a very small percentage of their time - the rest is spent in a lab analyzing data, maintaining equipment, etc.
In essence, anyone seeking to establish a career in storm chasing will find there are little or no realistic options available to them. If you chase, you chase as a hobby, with the occasional video sale here and there to help defray your travel expenses.
What is it like to chase storms?
 It's great to get out and witness the spectacular displays in the skies. The drives are long sometimes, and the successful days are few. But the weather is fascinating, the camraderie enjoyable, and the experiences memorable - making it all worthwhile. You can get a glimpse of what storm chasing expeditions in Tornado Alley are like by reading logs from our trips in the spring of 2001 and the spring of 2002.
If you're interested in giving storm chasing a try, there are several companies in the Plains that offer full chasing tours for a fee. Or, you can tag along with an experienced chaser. Whatever the means, you'll be sure to have a great time.
For more reading on storm chasing, see StormTrack's detailed Storm Chasing FAQ.
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